choosing between function returns

I have written a function which has two different options of what to return:

//function to compare the strings in function3
int compare(char* str, char* dest){
  int answer;
  int i;
 int length;
  length = strlen(str);
  // int jlength;
  // jlength = strlen(dest);
  for(i=0; i<length; i++){
    if(str[i] == dest[i]){
      answer = 1;
    }else {
      answer = 2;
    }
  }
  return answer;
}

I want to use this function later, and have different things happen depending on what the function has returned. Below are the relevant parts of how I have constructed that:

 //compare the reversed str with the orignal, now stored in dest
  compare(str, dest);
  int function3answer;
  if(compare == 1){
    function3answer = 1;
  }else{
   function3answer = 2;
  }
  return function3answer; 
}

When I compile I get the error:

warning: comparison between pointer and integer [enabled by default]

Adding single quotes around the 1 does not help (and also isn't really what I want because I am not referencing part of an array) nor does taking it down to one equals sign (this produces a different warning).

Thanks so much!